Vulnerability and the Erosion of Seismic Culture in Mountainous Central Asia

Bam 2003 earthquake disaster: On the earthquake risk perception, resilience and earthquake culture – Cultural beliefs and cultural landscape of Qanats, gardens of Khorma trees and Argh-e Bam

“…Harry Moore [49], Anderson [50] Wenger and Weller [51], Mileti and Darlington [13] and other insights about "seismic culture" [54,55,56] there was no earthquake "disaster subculture" or "earthquake culture" in Bam before 2003 earthquake disaster. Earthquake was not part of the life of Bam communities and there were no recorded historical and instrumental records of earthquakes disasters in Bam.…”

“…Homan and Eastwood [54] analysed the "disaster subculture" within the context of the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake disaster in Turkey and introduced the term of "seismic culture" which "could be described as being the knowledge (both pragmatic and theoretical) that has built up in a community exposed to seismic risks through time". Karababa and Guthrie [55] and Halvarson and Hamilton [56] developed and analysed furthermore the concept of "seismic culture" for communities in Greece and central Asia (Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan). "Seismic culture" can integrate "all the activities, attitudes, behaviours, and perceptions of the local population regarding earthquakes" [55].…”

“…"Seismic culture" can integrate "all the activities, attitudes, behaviours, and perceptions of the local population regarding earthquakes" [55]. Moreover "seismic culture" can be used as "a broad concept that encompasses a range of cultural adaptations to seismic risk and hazard" [56].…”

Earthquake Culture: A Significant Element in Earthquake Disaster Risk Assessment and Earthquake Disaster Risk Management

“…Karababa and Guthrie ( [27], p. 32) advised that a seismic culture can include "all the activities, attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of the local population regarding earthquakes." Halvorson and Hamilton ( [28], p. 322) analyzed the seismic culture for Mountainous Central Asia, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and defined the term of "seismic culture as a broad concept that encompasses a range of cultural adaptations to seismic risk and hazard. "…”

The Best of Intentions?

“…The engineering geologist quoted above challenges what has become the new development orthodoxy and in doing so questions the increasingly normative position taken on the role of scientific knowledge in DRR, and development more generally. While the broad aim of participation in development is to involve the socially, politically and economically marginalised, and to harness "'local' people's perspectives, knowledge, priorities and skills" as an "alternative to donor-driven and outsider-led development" (Cooke and Kothari, 2001: 5), studies have also highlighted the local knowledge gaps that exist around comparatively infrequent hazards, or hazards to which individuals are newly exposed (Halvorson andHamilton 2007, 2010;Oven et al, 2008;Shaw et al, 2009;Oven et al, 2011), suggesting that, while important, local knowledge alone may not be enough for DRR (see also Gaillard and Mercer, 2013). When it comes to participatory development interventions, the World Bank's review of its own participatory projects has highlighted the tendency for such projects to suffer from a combination of elite capture and participatory exclusions (Mansuri and Rao, 2013).…”